MRS. MURPHY'S MOCCASIN, middle grade contemporary, approx. 34,000 words: Imagining himself as Agent Double-Oh-Twelve, Jackson Thomas dictates mission logs into an air mic to avoid thinking about an accident that killed his father's and grandmother and crippled his grandfather. Visiting his grandfather's nursing home, he is entrusted with a letter and a will that may decide the fate of the empty mansion next door. With help from a Mohawk neighbor and the daughter of a pet therapist, he keeps the will from unsavory characters, and in the process finds resolution to his own dilemma. His story has an intergenerational, multicultural cast. A potential sequel to this is MR. MURPHY'S MENAGERIE. Click to read first page HALF A HAND SHORT, middle grade historical, approx. 67,000 words. Gillian Goodway loses her pony to Lady Elizabeth, then raises a splendid small colt, Pippin, that her late father, a knight, had expected to become one of his best breeding stallions. Henry VIII's misguided decrees regarding the size of horses threaten Gillian's plans to carry out her father's wishes. Running away with Pippin to Wales is her only hope. She is pursued by a stepbrother whose interest in her may be romantic, or only as an enforcer of the decrees; and by the noble her stepfather wishes her to marry. Disguised as a boy, accompanied by a displaced and likewise disguised nun and her mule, Gillian is confronted by obstacles that are in turn frustrating, comical, and frightening. Click to read first page THE TATTLETAIL'S CLAW, middle grade contemporary fantasy, approx. 28,000 words: Clawdia is a calico cat descended from mythical animals (see the Stellark Sagas, below), and can talk to others like her—Monitors—including Hershey, a retired police horse; Goofer, an obnoxious mutt; and Ferdo, a young ferret frightened by their quasi-sonic mind speech. Clawdia's owner, Dakota, is also beginning to understand them. By observing Dakota, Clawdia and Ferdo master the computer skills to write down the oral histories about their heritage. Clawdia's single front claw turns out to be far more useful—and more damaging than she ever expected. The disastrous result of their computing—a Monster Manifesto in a tabloid, and bombing threats—endangers animals everywhere until Clawdia enlists her friends in damage control. Click to read first page GRANDMA JOSEE'S PLANET, sci fi chapter book, approx. 11,000 words: Space Cadet Kit and his sister, Space Cub Vali, are members of a Starship Family Crew Unit. On the tourist planet Kona, home of intelligent animaloids, they have unwittingly become carriers of a secret formula. Kidnapped by industrial spies Degran and Malea, they are abandoned in a cave but found by two elderly travel reporters: kangarooish Grandma Josee and porcupinish Aunt Breena. An attempt to escape is blocked by a cave-in, and the spies have the formula. Kit, Vali, and their rescuers use porcupine quills, knockout drops, stiffening string, and an old quarry to defeat the spies. Click to read first page HORSEFEATHERS: A Stellark Saga, young adult historical/sci fi/fantasy (work in progress): Ian MacLeith doesn't know that his tutor, Lyle, is an alien from a stellar ark that has become stranded in Earth orbit, or that the strange craft cloaked in the medieval Highlands carries alien animals that we have come to think of as mythical: flying horses (Lyle's Pegs), unicorns, griffins, and others. These aliens are from the Alliance of Peaceable Planets, but there are other aliens about, with less friendly motives, who come from the Union of Imperialist Societies Click to read first page THE HORSE WITH THE BROKEN HORN: A Stellark Saga, young adult historical/sci fi/fantasy (work in progress): In another Stellark Saga, Princess Coriander encounters a horse with a bony lump in the middle of his forehead. Another in the series, featuring a griffin, will be titled LIONBEAK. Click to read first page DONKEY WHO, young adult 1950s historical (current work in progress): Donald Quick has moved with his father to a Florida high school with its own three-ring circus. His name, and his interest in Don Quixote, earn him the nickname "Donk"; his new friendship with very closeted Sam Panebianco may derail his hopes for a popularity that escaped him in middle school; and his misplaced crush on a blonde senior aerialist may blind him to the chance of a romance with Sam's sister Rosa. Then there's The Donkey with the Diamond Eyelashes, and a murder. Click to read first page